Trips – Page 67 – Kevin's America

Homeward bound!

Alas, we must get back to the real world, so we say bye to Dallas! It was a neat trip back to see old sights and new. This is where we started 31+ years ago! And now we are ready for our own bed in our house! Let’s go!

But first, we must have lunch at Pappasito’s Cantina in DFW Airport.
The Laredo: enchilada, crispy taco, and pork tamale.

Our flight was delayed for over 1-1/2 hours so the flight maintenance crew could work on some “items”. So we landed at Dulles at 8:30 instead of 6, and we got home at 9:45. But we made it home! We thank God for His travelling mercies!

Last Night in Dallas

The Deltek Insight 2018 Conference has its “Celebrate Insight” night at Gilley’s in downtown Dallas.

Apple cobbler and Jack Daniels chocolate pie.

Gilley’s in Houston was the setting for the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta. I actually rode the mechanical bull at the Houston Gilley’s back in 1985. I’ve got the picure at home if you ever want to see it. Now, you are not even allowed to sit on this (non-moving) mechanical bull for a picture without staff supervision!

Out & about in Grapevine

So we found this cool cafe in Grapevine for breakfast.

Omelet chock full of cheese and bacon, with grits and bacon!

The bottom line kind of negates the entire sign, doesn’t it?

Grapevine 9-11 Memorial

DFW Airport is located in Grapevine, Texas, and is the headquarters for American Airlines. We were driving down one of the main streets in Grapevine and saw a sculpture on the corner, so we stopped to take a look. It is the Grapevine 9-11 Memorial. Two American Airlines flights – 11 and 77 – were hijacked (and United flights 93 and 175) on 9-11 and used in the attack. This memorial remembers the flight crews from all four flights, as well as the first responders, the police and firefighters. It is quite a stunning memorial.

Flight crew of United Airlines Flight 93.

Flight crew of American airlines Flight 11.

Flight crew of United Airlines Flight 175.

Flight crew of American airlines Flight 77.

343 firefighters died in the 9-11 attack.

71 law enforcement officers died in the 9-11 attack.

Left: Stone from the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Middle: Limestone fragment from the impact zone of the Pentagon.
Right: Steel girder from the World Trade Center Towers.

My Conference

I am in Dallas to attend the Deltek Insight 2018 Conference for work. Here is where I get to engage with other Deltek contacts and users so I can get perspectives on how other organizations use their software and deal with any issues that they may have. I also get a heads up on any planned future changes to the software. It was a good few days.

The conference was from Monday night through Thursday morning.

That’s pretty much all I can post about the conference itself – it gets pretty technical. The conference was held at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, so there are a number of photo ops there. It is not as large or as grand as the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, but still it was pretty neat.